It Should Be Luke
by LunaMystik
Summary: JavaJunkie. What could have happened between Luke and Lorelai after the events of Season 2's It Should Have Been Lorelai? COMPLETE.
1. How it began

A/N: This is a speculative fic on what would have happened if Luke had comforted Lorelai after Christopher yelled at her at the end of season 2's "It should have been Lorelai". Some dialogue borrowed from the script, the rest is all mine.

Chapter 1 – How it began

Luke was, as usual for this time of day, behind the counter at the diner, surveying his domain. It was quite busy, but nothing he couldn't handle. Lorelai was there, as was also usual for this time on a Saturday morning. She was wearing a pink sweater, looking absolutely amazing, as was _also_ usual for any time of the day, of the week, hell of the year for her. He idly wondered if he were the only one to look at her and feel an immediate need for a cold shower. He hoped so; he didn't think he could deal with any additional competition. His own insecurities were quite enough, thank you very much.

He wondered, as he did nearly every time she came in, if today would be the day that he would finally, _finally_, have the courage to do something about the embarrassing crush he had on her. It was sad in a way, he thought to himself that, at almost forty, he could still be afflicted by something as childish as a crush. If she knew, she'd laugh herself silly and then proceed to mock him for all eternity.

He sighed to himself then, knowing that he would love every minute of it, because then at least she'd be in his life. It was pathetic really, the way he mooned over her yet she didn't seem to see it.

She was with Christopher now, which would usually annoy the hell out of him; today, it didn't affect him in the least because he had noticed the beautiful woman, who was obviously with Christopher, that was outside chatting with Rory. Luke normally didn't pay any attention whatsoever to town gossip, but he did know that Rory's dad had a tendency to appear in the girls' lives just when everything was running smoothly and to cause some kind of disturbance, usually with Lorelai. If Christopher had a girlfriend, there was almost no chance that he would make a move on Lorelai, unless he was an unbelievable jerk.

Luke was distracted from his thoughts by loud voices, one of which was Lorelai's.

"What's wrong?" Lorelai asked Christopher.

"What's wrong? Damn it Lorelai, you're dumping fifteen years of unhappiness on me? Fifteen years of not having healthy, lasting relationships on me? You're blaming me for breaking up with Max and not marrying him? That's all my fault?"

"No, I just – " Lorelai protested, but Christopher cut her off.

"I did nothing to deserve that."

"I'm not saying that you did." Lorelai said, trying to backpedal and regain control of the discussion.

"You're as good as saying it."

"No, I'm not."

"Then what did you expect to come from this divine revelation that you've been so kind to share with me? Did you want me to apologize to you for ruining your life or comfort you and say 'there, there, everything's gonna be all right' so you can feel okay? Forget it!"

"Chris, wait!" Lorelai cried.

"Look, if there's anything else you feel bad about in your life that you wanna dump on my doorstep, just leave a note!" And with that Christopher left the diner, leaving a devastated-looking Lorelai staring after him.

Luke looks on as Lorelai turns her gaze to him. He quickly glances elsewhere, not wanting to be caught eavesdropping. He looks out the window at Christopher and Rory hugging, and then looks back to Lorelai, who looks like she's waging a war with herself. Her facial expressions alternate between shocked, bewildered, tortured and angry. When he sees her go through he cycle for the third time in half a minute, he grabs the coffee pot and heads to her table.

"Coffee?"

He gets no response. He clears his throat in annoyance. Lorelai yelps in surprise and slaps her hand over her heart.

"God, don't sneak up on me like that! I'm too young for a heart attack," Lorelai's facial expression moved on from surprised to indignant, something Luke preferred to the aching sadness that had been there in the second before he made his presence known.

"If you keep it up with the coffee inhaling –"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll die young. Whatever, Burger Boy, I'm not in the mood," Lorelai snapped as she lowered her head to her hands. Luke waited a beat while she gathered her thoughts. He chose to not take her rudeness personally.

Lorelai took a deep breath and rubbed her hands over her face. "Sorry. Didn't mean that. It's not you I'm upset with right now." She sat up straight in the chair and gave Luke what she hoped was a saucy look. "Is that a coffee pot in your hand, or are you just glad to see me?"

Luke rolled his eyes. It was heart wrenching to watch her try to pretend like nothing had happened, but by now he was well acquainted with her methods of avoiding unpleasantness. "I asked you if you wanted coffee. This is a pot that has been sitting on the warmer for forty-five minutes. No one else but you will drink it as this point, but I hate to see it go to waste."

"Well how can I say no to such a charming offer? Just pour it in here and keep it coming. In fact, leave the pot." With that, her gaze strayed to her daughter, who was now making her way to the front door of the diner after having said her final goodbye to her father and Sherry. "Luke?"

"Yeah?"

"I'd rather Rory not hear about…what just happened between her dad and I…do you think you could run interference if someone seems about to, um, mention it?" Lorelai was wringing her hands and looking about as uncomfortable as Luke had ever seen her.

_I hate having to cover-up something that moron did to hurt her_. "Sure, whatever." And with that he returned to the safety of the counter.

TBC?

What do you think…let me know if this is something I should continue. I have a midterm coming up next week, which means I'll have a lot of nights when I'll intend to study, but I'll only end up writing instead. I get particularly inspired when I'm procrastinating.


	2. Lorelai's ultimate humiliation

_A/N: Thanks to those who took the time to read and review the first chapter._

Chapter 2 – Lorelai's Ultimate Humiliation

Lorelai followed Luke with her eyes as he returned to his place behind the counter. She knew he had heard everything Chris had said to her; hell, the whole diner had heard what he had thrown at her, had seen the look in his eyes. That angry, pitying look that she felt she had done nothing to deserve. Couldn't he understand that she really _was_ thanking him? She had meant no harm with her words; if he knew her better, he would've understood that. Seeing him with Sherry, happy, had finally, _finally_, made her realize that she was over him. Really, truly, absolutely over him.

Probably.

She took a sip of her coffee and tried to casually glance around the diner. _I am Sydney Bristow, master of disguise; nobody will recognize me behind this coffee cup._ She amused herself by giving the evil eye to those still glancing in her direction. She began singing the Mission Impossible theme to herself, imagining herself as a secret agent. _Ooh, got to rent it tonight, polish up my spy techniques…_

"Mom!"

"Argh! You're the second person to make attempt on my life in the past five minutes…good thing I'm an special agent, trained in Krav Maga."

Rory sighed and raised her eyebrows at Lorelai. "Were you pretending to be Sydney again?"

"Maybe…you'll never drag it out of me." Lorelai took another sip of coffee. "How'd 'operation BS to L' go?"

"I'm assuming you're referring to the CD drop?"

Lorelai demurely dropped her eyes. "I don't know, am I?" she stage-whispered.

"Quit it! Nice going, by the way. You should have seen Michel. Fourteen shades of purple! I don't think he'll ever forgive you for neglecting to give him the message."

"Hey, a little exercise never hurt anyone."

"Says the woman who once referred to Jane Fonda as the spawn of the devil! Who mercilessly mocks Olivia Newton-John's headband-wearing phase!"

"Do as I say, not as I do; that's my motto!" Lorelai avoided Rory's eyes, suddenly and uncharacteristically uncomfortable with what she was about to ask. "Um, Rory? Are, um, your dad and Sherry still around?"

"I don't know, they said something about checking out the bookstore. Why?" Rory asked, suspicious.

"Uh, no reason. I think I'll just hang around here for a while, you know, annoy Luke by asking for an obscene amount of refills. It's as good a way as any to whittle away a Saturday morning. Ooh, whittling…now that's as good a way as any to whittle away a Saturday morning. Ah, donuts! Gotta have donuts to successfully whittle away a Saturday morning!"

Rory, used to, and therefore not fooled by, her mother's patented evasion techniques, narrowed her eyes at Lorelai. "Mom, what's wrong? Oh, no! Did you and Dad have a thing?"

"Why would you assume that your dad and I had a thing?" Lorelai asked, unable to meet Rory's eyes.

"Your pathetic attempts to distract me are always a dead giveaway that something's wrong, and since the last person you most probably spoke to is Dad, I'd say it's a valid guess. Also, you and Dad always seem to manage to have 'a thing' each time he comes to visit."

"We do not," Lorelai protested.

"Hello, Cleopatra, nice of you to put in an appearance. What about that time last year when he came to stay for a few days? When he left I was getting a definite 'thing' vibe," Rory pointed out.

"Yeah, well, that was different – "

"And then," Rory interrupted, "there was the night of my debut," Rory rolled her eyes and fluttered her hands at that. "You spoke to Dad outside and then you came in here and looked…well, like you do now."

Lorelai shifted in her seat and frantically gestured to Luke. "Oh, Luuuuke…need coffee now!" She fidgeted and tapped her fingernails on the tabletop. "Man, I hate it when he doesn't pay attention to me. Luke! Coffeeeee…"

Luke stomped over with a fresh coffee pot. "Jeez, Lorelai. I went to the trouble of leaving you a pot, against my own policy, might I add, and yet you still find a way to whine at me. I swear you do this on purpose," he grumbled. He glared at Lorelai as he filled her cup _again_.

"Oh, she does," Rory chimed in. "She was just mentioning how she was planning on spending the morning annoying you. Although, to be fair, it's probably another of her famous ways to not answer my question."

"You had a question?" Lorelai fluttered her eyelashes at Rory.

"Don't you try it with me, missy. I know every avoidance trick in the book, I was raised by the – "

"Gilmore! Heads up."

"Gah!" Rory squealed. She dodged in time to narrowly miss getting conked in the head by a book. She glanced around and spotted Jess, smirking of course, standing behind the counter. "Jess, what the hell! You know I have no motor skills!

"Hey, Miss Center-of-the-Universe, he yelled 'Gilmore'. That could just have easily been my decapitation he was planning," Lorelai pointed out.

Jess sauntered over to their table. "Oh no, I would never do anything to hurt you, Miz Gilmore." He turned to Rory. "I heard Andrew got a new shipment yesterday. Wanna head to the bookstore and check it out? Who knows, I might let you have dibs on whatever first edition we dig out."

"Would I? I'm right behind you!" Rory leapt out of her chair and wagged her finger at Lorelai. "We are sooo not done. Work on your story and we'll hash this out later, 'kay?" She dropped a kiss on Lorelai's head and was out the door.

"What just happened? Did Jess just throw a book through a crowd of _my_ customers?" Luke fumed.

"Boy, you're slow today." Lorelai grabbed Luke's arm and tugged him to her, causing him to lose his balance. "Quick, what's 1,543 times 897?"

"Let go of me and finish your coffee." Luke pried her fingers lose and once again returned to the safety of his counter, mumbling to himself about crazy ladies and caffeine overdoses.

Lorelai laughed quietly to herself. _Gilmore – 10,063, Danes – 0._ She raised her cup to her lips and mentally prepared herself for a long morning of bugging Luke.

Fifteen minutes later, Lorelai was still seated at the table and was berating herself for not bringing supplies; a book, a newspaper, anything that would lift her boredom. She raised her hands above her head and twisted her torso from side to side in an attempt to relieve the tension in her lower back. _All Emily-induced, of course_. On her third twist to the left, she caught a glimpse of a tall, familiar figure striding towards the diner. _Chris! What does he want?_ Without thinking, Lorelai jumped up from her seat, ignoring the twinge in her back, and raced to the counter.

_I really don't want to deal with him again…what could he possibly want? Unless he forgot his scarf or something…must find a distraction_.

She frantically looked around for something she could suddenly be in the middle of to avoid another confrontation with Chris. She placed both hands on the counter and leaned over, glancing first to the right, then to left, in an attempt to spot someone she could very quickly be in deep, intimate conversation with.

Kirk? Ugh, no. I'd actually welcome an interruption from Chris if I was stuck in a convo with Kirk… 

_Funny-smelling guy with the beard? What's his name again?Never, it'll take me days to forget the smell of his breath and the feel of his hand on my thigh…stupid touchy-feely Smelly Guy!_

She heard the bells above the door jingle and felt her whole body stiffen.

"Hey, Lore – " she heard him begin.

_Quick!_ And that's when she looked straight in front of her and noticed Luke staring at her with an unreadable expression on his face. _Perfect._

She released the death-grip she had on the counter and raised her right hand to clutch the fabric at the front of his shirt and yank him close to her, nearly toppling him over the counter. "I'll see you later, Hon. At the house?" she babbled. _Too fast, slow down._

She could see Luke's eyes widen in surprise and his lips move to form a protest._ No, no, no! Go along with it, please…_

She sensed Chris behind her. "Lorelai? Can I talk to you for a second?"

In full panic mode, Lorelai did the only thing she could think of: she tugged Luke closer and leaned in, planting her lips squarely on his.

And time came to a grinding halt.

As soon as their lips made contact, everything faded away. The crowd in the diner, the counter between them, Christopher, all ceased to exist for her. His lips were warm and unyielding beneath hers. What she meant to be an innocent peck turned almost immediately into a challenge for her. _Can I make him react, participate in this?_ She moved her mouth ever so slightly over his, almost daring him to stay immobile.

She felt it then, a subtle tremor against her mouth. Luke's lips slowly came to life. His mouth released hers for a fraction of a second before diving back in and melding with hers once again. He became an active participant, feathering her lips with light kisses and stroking her lower lip with his tongue. Lorelai heard herself moan and moved in for more…

…and suddenly found herself toppling onto the counter from the sudden absence of Luke. She slowly opened her eyes (_when did I close them?_) and met his. She was shocked by the heat she saw there, but also by the barely-contained anger simmering below the surface.

Uh-oh. What have I done now? 

A/N: I wrote most of this chapter before Tuesday's episode (5.15) aired. I usually suck at references, so I was understandably proud with the Krav Maga one…and then they used it on the show! Damn, scooped by ASP again!

For those who didn't know, GILMORE GIRLS SEASON 3 ON DVD MAY 3RD!


	3. Turn Luke on and watch him simmer

A/N: Thanks again to everyone who reviewed! I'm used to getting, like, 6 reviews so this is a pleasant surprise! I apologize for the formatting problems. Thoughts should always be in italic and they are in the original document, but once the story is posted…some go AWOL. If anyone knows why it's happening, please let me know. I'm using Word X for Mac, with Safari as my browser.

Chapter 3 – Turn Luke On and Watch Him Simmer

Luke was in pain, and it wasn't the 'it feels so good it hurts' kind of pain. It was the pain a guy feels when the woman he's inexplicably attracted to uses him for her own selfish reasons. Save the few seconds when his lips had been fused with hers, there was nothing even remotely good about this situation. He had entertained fantasies from time to time about what it would be like to kiss Lorelai Gilmore; in none of those had this been the way it happened. In his favorite recurring vision, she pulled back and looked at him from behind demurely lowered lashed and moved in to initiate the second kiss, which led straight to…well, not this.

Because now that he could focus, kind of, he saw her looking at him with a half fearful, half pleading look. He was torn between desire and obligation. In the first case, he would yell at her for upsetting the careful balance of their relationship by making out with him in an attempt to save face in front of another man. He would yell until all the pent-up frustration caused by one little kiss coupled with five years of desire was spent, he would order out all the gawking customers and drag her upstairs to build up and release some frustration of a…different kind.

In the second case, he would go along with whatever she said and then, after he had sufficiently calmed down, he would listen to her excuses and apologies and half-heartedly agree that, no, it should never happen again.

In the split second it took for those thoughts to run through his head, he knew that his decision was already made. His fate had been sealed from the moment he had seen Christopher approach the counter and Lorelai had lunged at him to avoid another ugly confrontation. He knew that, no matter what he was feeling at the moment and the consequences of what had happened, he couldn't make Lorelai look more like a fool in front of the man who had humiliated her in front of the whole diner crowd a mere thirty minutes ago.

Behind Lorelai, Christopher cleared his throat. "Uhm, sorry to interrupt…"

Lorelai slowly released the grip she still had on his shirt. She was still staring at him, her eyes moving rapidly over his face, trying to gauge how he would react. She unconsciously licked her lips, stirring pools of lust in Luke's stomach. He almost groaned aloud at that, but caught himself in time. He lifted his chin in a gesture meant to snap her out of her trance.

She spun around quickly then, breaking eye contact with him in order to face Christopher. "Chris! How long have you been standing there?" She gave a nervous little laugh and pushed her hair behind her ears.

"Long enough. Who's this?" Christopher asked as he gave Luke a not-so-subtle once over. "Funny, in all the conversations we've engaged in since yesterday, you never mentioned you had a…special friend."

Luke clenched his fists behind the counter and gritted his teeth. He hadn't liked the way Christopher had looked at him and didn't like the tone he was taking with Lorelai. It almost sounded as if he were baiting her. He forced himself to take a deep breath. He was, after all, an unwilling participant in this whole charade; he wouldn't cause a scene, but he wouldn't help her out either.

Damn, who was he kidding?

He shoved his hands in the back pockets of his jeans and rocked back on his heels. "Lorelai and I have been seeing each other for what, three weeks now?" From the corner of his eye he saw Lorelai relax a little and give a subtle nod. "We've been keeping it real quiet, 'cause you know how people love to talk in a small town." He paused to jut out his chin to include the silent diner crowd in his speech. "I don't even think Lorelai has told Rory yet, right babe?"

"Uh, no. I don't want her to get her hopes up, not after my amazing reenactment of Runaway Bride. What are you doing here? I thought your huffy exit would be the last I'd see of you for awhile." With that, Lorelai crossed her arms and glared at Chris.

"Yeah, well I…" Christopher trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck and looking everywhere but at them. Obviously feeling uncomfortable beneath the stares of the silent diner patrons, he dragged his eyes up to Lorelai's, looking so miserable that Luke almost lost his composure and let out an undignified snort. He almost lost it again a second later when Christopher leaned forward and grabbed Lorelai's arm hard enough to make her flinch. "Look, Lore, could we maybe go somewhere private to discuss this? I'm, uh, not really comfortable with the way everyone is staring at me."

Lorelai jerked her arm free. "Well boo-hoo, Chris! You certainly didn't mind being the center of attention when you were yelling at me earlier! What the hell is wrong with you? One second you're all normal and the next you're the Incredible Hulk, which was totally unappreciated by the way."

Christopher looked beseechingly into her eyes and dropped his voice to a whisper. Luke had to lean forward over the counter to catch what he was saying. "…seeing you calm and, for lack of a better word, content, telling me you're over me? There's nothing I wanted to hear less. I don't want you to be over me, hell I still want you under me –"

"ARGH!" Lorelai interrupted him with her scream. "Chris, you are so messed up right now you're making Anna Nicole look like Hillary." She leaned forward and jabbed a finger into his chest. "You have a great girlfriend who obviously adores you. How could you do this to Sherry? And me, how could you do this to me? I'm happy; I've moved on, life is good. I don't need you messing it up again. And another thing," Lorelai's head whipped around to face Luke at the sound of him clearing his throat. "I'm in a relationship too now. You therefore have NO RIGHT to say what you just did."

Lorelai placed her hands on her hips and assumed a no-nonsense pose. "That's why I'm going to ask you once, only once, to get out of here."

"But – " Christopher started to protest.

"Once, Chris. The second time you're asked to leave, it will be accompanied by Luke physically removing you from the premises. Got it? We share a daughter, that I can live with, but if you ever do this to me again, you won't get off so nicely." Lorelai had advanced on Christopher as she spoke. They were at the door of the diner, her glaring at him and him looking like he wanted to risk the combined wrath of Lorelai and Luke to get another word in. Luke quickly moved from behind the counter to make good on Lorelai's promise. Christopher saw him and fumbled with the door before rushing out onto street.

For all of five seconds, the only sounds in the diner were those of Lorelai's deep breaths and the ticking of the clock. Luke stood still as the adrenaline from the encounter with Christopher wore off and his anger came rushing back. He opened his mouth to confront Lorelai and then quickly shut it when he realized that no one had spoken yet.

And then all hell broke loose.

Everyone and their dining companion started talking at once. The shock of going from near-silence to overwhelming noise caught Luke unprepared. Never good in social situations, he felt his temper rise from a worrisome but manageable 6 to a scary 9. He wanted nothing more than to escape to the sanctity of his apartment to wrap his mind around what he would say to Lorelai before the wall of noise surrounding him caused him to hit 10 and make him do something he'd regret.

Lorelai turned to him, her eyes big and blue. "Luke, I don't know what came over me…"

Kirk (when did he get here, Luke wondered absently) raised his hand and spoke loudly enough to be heard over the din. "Luke, I need more coffee. And a clean fork, this one touched the knife…"

Miss Patty came rushing over and draped an arm around Lorelai. "Lorelai, honey, I didn't know you'd bagged Gorgeous over there. You naughty, naughty girl you. So, tell me…"

"Hey, Luke! You just gonna stand there, or are gonna take my order?" Someone yelled from the back of the room.

"I was here first! I'm starving! Luke, I want…" Bootsy, who had been sitting at the counter, therefore enjoying a front-row seat of the entanglement, began to whine.

"ENOUGH!" Luke bellowed, interrupting Bootsy and not giving a rat's ass. Everyone turned to stare at him. "The show's over! If you're done eating, pay and get out. If you're still eating, hurry up, pay and get out. If you haven't ordered yet, I hear Al's Pancake World is holding its salute to breakfast foods of the world. I highly recommend it. Now GET OUT!" With that, he turned and headed in the direction of the kitchen, intending to tell Cesar he was in charge. He had to get out of here.

"Luke, wait," he felt Lorelai's hand on his arm and whipped around to face her, making her jump back.

"Lorelai, I am in no mood to talk to you right now. I don't want to hear your reasons for dragging me into your little domestic dispute. I don't want to hear your explanations for why you just humiliated me in front of everyone. I don't want to listen to your babbling, your apologies or whatever else you have to say to me. I'm going upstairs. To be **alone**!" He punctuated his last word by crashing his fist onto the counter, making her wince.

"Um, ok. Well, call me when you're ready to…discuss this. I'll have thought of tons of reasons why you shouldn't hate me by then. So, um," Lorelai got that glint in her eye that she always did before saying something naughty, "enjoy your cold shower."

"OUT, now!"

Lorelai rushed to grab her purse and coat from the table. "Ok, too soon for jokes, I get it." She opened the door and looked over her shoulder at him. "I'll be at home. Come see me when you're ready. I'm really sorry about this, about everything." And with that, she was gone.

Luke stared out the window at her retreating back for a moment before moving aside to let the exiting customers leave. Fuck this, he thought. He walked to the kitchen and poked his head in. "Kitchen's closed, Cesar. Come to the counter and make everyone pay, then lock up and leave. I'll take care of the clean up later."

"Sure thing, boss."

And Luke headed up the stairs to his apartment, thankful that Jess was out. He needed to clear his head.


	4. Bubbly, and then confused

A/N – Here's Chapter 4. Thanks again to everyone who took the time to review; it makes my day! Once again, thoughts should be in italics, but with the formatting issues…not so sure they will be. Keep that in mind when reading; I hope it's not too confusing.

Quick shout-out to Gilmoregirl1979 – I hope some of your questions/comments are answered here. Keep the amazing reviews coming, they're sooooo helpful.

Chapter 4 – Bubbly…and then confused

Lorelai was feeling bubbly and victorious as she walked away from the diner with a jaunt in her step. '_Take that Chris!'_ she thought to herself. The nerve of him to say all those things to her! It was just like him to act like an ass and say totally inappropriate things in front of a crowd, not to mention in front of the man he thought to be her boyfriend. Actually, if she were honest, it wasn't _really_ like him…but he was often impulsive and he'd been pretty mad at her when he left the diner the first time, so she wasn't exactly surprised when things had gotten out of hand.

"I don't want you to be over me, I still want you under me." '_Who, besides an actor in a really bad B-movie, says stuff like that?'_ Lorelai wondered. It was just her rotten luck to be on the receiving end of such a cheesy, back-handed compliment. And from her daughter's father, nonetheless!

_Rory!_

Oh my God, what if Rory heard about what happened? No, not if. When. The citizens of Star's Hollow, God love them, were incapable of keeping anything a secret. Rory would soon find out that her father, with whom she already had a shaky relationship, was propositioning her mother while he was in town visiting with his new girlfriend. The only positive thing about the whole situation was that Rory had been blessedly absent when the whole thing went down.

'_Are you sure that's the only positive thing about what happened,'_ the little voice in her head asked.

_Luke!_

Lorelai slowed to a stop in the middle of the sidewalk, still only halfway home, victory long-forgotten and all bubbly feelings gone. They were rapidly replaced by guilt and another feeling that could only be described as…arousal? _'What the hell? Since when does Luke make me feel all hot and bothered?'_

Since when did thoughts of Luke come accompanied by butterflies in her stomach and shortness of breath? Thoughts of Luke were usually quickly followed by the mental image of a really tall cup of coffee, with the steam rising to tease her senses with that delicious coffee smell, all warm and strong and tasty. Wait a minute…

Lorelai slapped her palm to her forehead and started walking again. _'Gah! I feel like sixty-seven types of idiot!'_ Who was she kidding? Coffee was a metaphor for none other than Luke!

Warm? Check! He was a guy; guys were always warm. In was in their nature to be human furnaces.

Strong? Check! She'd seen the arms, so she was pretty sure he was no slouch in the strength department. Granted, she'd never actually seen anything _but_ the arms, but judging by Miss Patty's random lewd comments, the rest couldn't be that bad.

Tasty? As of twenty minutes ago, she could say 'check!' with utmost confidence. Kissing him had been…indescribable. Like diving headfirst into the ocean and being swept away by the current. Like that delicious split second at the top of a roller coaster before the train rushed downward along the tracks. Like…

Ok, she was out of comparisons, but it had been pretty damn amazing. She could almost forget that she had done it to get back at Chris, which was where the 'guilt' part of the equation came into play. She, Lorelai Gilmore the Evil, had used one of her best friends to get back at her ex-boyfriend. What, was she suddenly back in high school? Nobody over twenty should stoop that low. With adulthood was supposed to come common sense and rational thinking, not childish behavior tailor-made to hurt someone. 'Cause, judging by the look in Luke's eyes before he'd all but shoved her out the door, he hadn't been too pleased. In fact, he'd looked downright miserable.

She shook herself from her thoughts and realized she was home. As she climbed the porch steps, she briefly toyed with the idea of heading back towards the diner to apologize to Luke. He certainly deserved it, that and an explanation. If there had been no kiss, she'd do just that. He was such a good friend, pretending to be her boyfriend and not ruining her theatrics. She cringed when she remembered the possessive way he'd called her 'babe'. So un-like him, and she hated when guys called her that. So what if it had made her feel warm and giddy and hesitate before speaking again? She still hated it.

But there had been a kiss and, now that the whole thing was over, she wasn't sure how she should act around him. Sure, she'd cracked a stupid joke when she'd left, but she was still riding high from the adrenaline of the confrontation at that point and therefore had no control over her brain-to-mouth coordination.

She pushed open the front door just as the phone started to ring. Grateful for the interruption from her thoughts, she rushed inside and dropped her keys on the table as she reached for the phone.

"Hello!"

"Hey Mom. Or should I just call you 'Babe'?"

"My God does word travel fast in this town! How many people stampeded over to the bookstore to share this morning's events with you?" Lorelai shrugged out of her coat and climbed the stairs to her room. She had to get out of her clothes. She wanted pajamas and slippers and she wanted them now!

Rory laughed. "Just Kirk. He couldn't resist sharing the news with Andrew. Who even knew they were friends?"

Lorelai held the phone between her ear and shoulder and rifled through her dresser to find her favorite lounging pants. "What did he say?"

"Well, I definitely heard him say something about a kiss, which I find hard to believe, and Luke calling you babe, which I find even harder to believe, and then Dean came in and saw I was with Jess and I couldn't listen anymore. You know, what with the steam coming out of Dean's ears. So, what happened? I didn't think you liked Luke in 'that way'," Rory teased.

Lorelai sent a mental thanks to Dean for his normally annoying jealous tendencies. "Well, I'll tell you the whole story as soon as you get home. I can however warn you that you can hold off on imagining your bridesmaid dress, it's _so_ not what you think."

"Come on, don't tease! I can't come home now, Dean's pretty pissed that I was hanging out with Jess. I had to promise we'd see _Lord of the Rings_ again and go out for pizza in order for him to calm down," Rory grumbled.

"Oh, poor baby! Well, do me a favor and don't let anyone tell you what happened, no matter how enthusiasticly they beg. Do the 'la-la-I-can't-hear-you-I've-got-my-fingers-in-my ears' thing if you must. This is something you'd better hear directly from me. It's, uh, not a good story," Lorelai sighed.

"What, Luke's a bad kisser?"

"Oh no, he's great. World-class. Top-notch. Sonnets will be written. Sky-writers will be hired. It's the circumstances leading up to and following the kiss that kind of sucked. Let's just say I don't think I'll be seeing a repeat performance anytime soon." Lorelai was filled with an inexplicable sadness at the thought. _'Huh? Why should I be sad? It's not like this would have happened if it weren't for my idiotic schemes.'_

"Ah, so you're a bad kisser," Rory giggled.

"Ok, this talk is over. Enjoy your movie and I'll see you later!"

"I promise I won't tell anyone. Wouldn't want to ruin your reputation. I'll be home around 9." And with that, Rory hung up.

Lorelai stood in the middle of her room with the dead phone still held to her ear. _'But that's over 10 hours away!'_ How could she last this long without Rory to help her analyze the situation?

Upset, she tore off her jeans and pink sweater and pulled on the pants and a t-shirt. There was no way she was leaving the house now. She would just have to wait until Rory came home to talk it over. Usually, she could also talk to Sookie, but since this involved Chris…better keep it within the family. And Sookie would probably gloss over the bad stuff and demand instant replays of the kiss. Lorelai wanted to keep it to herself for awhile and go over it in her head to see if it really was as good as she remembered.

So she flopped back on her bed and decided to indulge herself in the memories. She used a trick she had learned in high school: visualization. She closed her eyes and placed herself in the diner, at the counter, with Luke standing in front of her. She saw her hand clutching the fabric of Luke's shirt and pulling him to her. She saw the look of panic in his eyes before he was too close and all became fuzzy.

She had closed her eyes at one point, but she couldn't remember when. She could, however, recall the surprise she had felt when her lips first touched his. She had expected nothing, just a quick, friendly peck, enough to convince Chris they were together but too little to get her in any serious trouble. But the moment their lips connected, all her good intentions had gone out the window and she had clung to him for dear life, already lost and not giving a damn.

She remembered softness and heat and frustration at being the only active participant. She remembered deepening the kiss in an effort to affect Luke. She, God help her, remembered the moment when he had finally responded, how he had planted light kisses on her lips before brushing his tongue over them. She had been ready to grant him access, to take things further than would have been proper in a dining establishment in full view of all the customers, when he had suddenly backed away.

She groaned at the memory, frustrated that it stopped there. She supposed she could always tweak at history a bit and change what had happened, fantasize about what could've been, but…it was Luke. She couldn't just go from screaming from the rooftops that they were just friends to imagining him naked and willing and braced above her, his blue eyes dark and serious…

No she couldn't. It was hard enough coming to the realization that she had quite possibly jeopardized their friendship with her antics. Harder still to realize that she didn't care.

She wanted him. She wanted him, here, with her, now. And she was the world's biggest hypocrite for it, because she could remember all the denying and the sidetracking and the stupid "are you good at dating?" speech she had given him after Rory's reenactment of _Romeo and Juliet_. She remembered Sookie telling her to look in his eyes, that it was right there, and she remembered ignoring it time and time again.

'_How could I be so blind?'_ Lorelai wondered. _'How could I not see what was right in front of me? I am such an idiot, and this is getting me nowhere. He's mad at me and I'm too much of a coward to go to him. Gah! This is so frustrating! Must think of something else…'_ She pushed herself off the bed, grabbed her glasses of the dresser and headed downstairs to fetch her marketing book and a snack. Maybe she could pour all her energy into studying, like Rory did, and magically forget her problems. It was worth a shot.

She was making her way to the couch, clutching her book and a Twinkie, when there was a knock at the door. A loud knock. More like a pounding, actually. She toyed with the idea of ignoring it. Pretending she wasn't home seemed like the best option, really. Sure, the Jeep was out front, but she could've walked somewhere, right?

"Lorelai, open up! I know you're in there!"

Luke. She should have expected it.


	5. Confrontation

A/N: I'm blown away by the positive response this story has gotten. I never expected it, and I'm grateful to all of you who took the time to review. This was supposed to be the last chapter, but it turned out longer that I thought it would…sorry I misled you D.! MMS later, I promise. Anyway, it was a blast to write; I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed putting it together!

Chapter 5 – Confrontation

Luke tried to reign in his temper as he waited for Lorelai to open the door. He knew she was home. After the scene at the diner, he couldn't think of anywhere else she would go but to her house, her sanctuary. He hadn't intended to come after her so soon, but anger, frustration and, strangely enough, concern for her had all but negated his intention to stay holed up in his apartment and had driven him to walk the short distance to her house to have it out with her.

He raised his hand to knock again when the door opened. There stood Lorelai, looking like a very frightened and very sexy librarian with her glasses perched on the end of her nose. What was it about her that she could make even the studious look seem downright dirty?

"Luke, hi. What a surprise…would you, um, like to come in?" Lorelai asked brightly, her brittle smile belying her casual tone.

Luke just glanced at her and pushed past her into the house. Whatever happened, whatever they said, or screamed, at each other before this was done, needed to take place behind closed doors. He couldn't have some nosy neighbour (say, Babette, for instance) alerting the grapevine that something was going down at the Gilmore place. The last thing he needed was a crowd making Lorelai even more skittish than she was at the moment.

He strode into the living room and turned when he reached the couch, unsure of whether to sit or stand. He turned to look at Lorelai, who had slammed the door and followed him into the room. A thick book dangled from her right hand, banging against her thigh as she moved around him to sit on the couch. She placed it carefully on the table and unwrapped the snack she carried with her. A Twinkie, of course.

Luke rolled his eyes and plopped down on the couch, as far away from her as he could manage. He shrugged out of his coat as he started to speak, "Would it kill you to eat something other than crap once in awhile? What's wrong with fruit? You know, an apple a day – "

"…causes tooth decay." Lorelai finished for him.

"Huh? What are you babbling about?"

"That's what my dentist said. The acidity of the apple eats away at the enamel of the tooth," she said as she savagely bit into her Twinkie, as if driving her point home.

Luke sighed. "Brushing and flossing usually takes care of that, you know."

"Bah! Too much trouble," she retorted.

"And you kissed me with that mouth!" Luke exclaimed. _Oops_.

An awkward silence filled the room. Luke mentally berated himself. _'Real smooth, Danes. You were supposed to ease into the subject…'_

As if in slow motion, Lorelai delicately placed the unfinished Twinkie on the table and turned to face him, tucking her right leg under her left. "Luke…" she started.

He held up his hand to stop her. "Lorelai, let me start." He took and deep breath and adjusted his cap, a habit he had when he was nervous. He used the small gesture to gather his thoughts. "How could you do this to me?" he demanded.

Lorelai sat up straight, obviously not expecting the attack. "You're going to make this about you?" she asked, incredulous. "I mean, sure, technically, you were involved, but – "

"What were you thinking?" he interrupted as if she had not spoken. "We've been walking this tightrope of a friendship for years now. It's simple: you don't touch me, I don't touch you, and all is right with the world!"

"What are you talking about?" Lorelai asked, confused.

"We had an agreement!"

"Whoa! Backtrack a little, Sparky. What agreement?"

Luke stood up abruptly, startling Lorelai. "You can't not know! The unspoken agreement –"

"…ah-ha, which explains why I have no idea – "

"…that stipulates that in order for me to maintain my sanity, I must stay at least a foot away from you at all times." _Geez, that sounds wrong when said out loud_, Luke thought. He sighed and sank back down onto the sofa, placing his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands.

After a few seconds of unbearable silence from Lorelai, he raised his head. She was staring at him, dumbfounded. He cleared his throat awkwardly before starting to speak again. "Sorry, I, uh, didn't mean for it to come out like that…I guess I'll leave you alone now, we can talk later…that is if you want to…" Luke cringed as he said the last bit, hating how weak it made him sound. He started to get up, but thought better of it. "Lorelai, are you going to say something, or should I just –"

"Shut up, Luke! I'm still processing, give me a minute, ok?" She turned away from him and took off her glasses to pinch the bridge of her nose. "This day has been pretty eventful so far, and it's not even noon yet. Oh my God, it's almost noon! You have to get back to the diner!"

"Relax, I had Cesar lock up. I'll open again for dinner, it's not a big deal. This," he gestured to the both of them, "is more important. I think we have some things to figure out. Like, what the hell was that back there?"

"Back where? Back two minutes ago when you either implied I was repulsive or that you're majorly attracted to me, or back at the diner?" Lorelai asked.

"Whichever. Both. And you're not repulsive, so don't go campaigning for the sympathy vote," he said with a small smile, trying to diffuse the tension.

"All right, Danes, I'll make a deal with you: I'll try to explain the weirdness with Chris earlier if you tell me _exactly_ what your meant by the one-foot minimum distance crack." She stuck out her hand for them to shake on it. He grabbed it and was caught unprepared when she yanked him closer, causing him to jerk forward until his face was inches from hers.

"Lorelai…" he said in his sternest, I-mean-business tone.

"Relax," she countered, "I'm just messing with you…or _am_ I?" She let go of his hand and he shifted over until he was once again seated as far from her as possible.

Lorelai took a deep breath and pushed her hair behind her ears. "Ok, here goes. Uh, I guess you know that Chris is Rory's dad, so I'll skip my usual introduction, which is too bad because it's quite colourful, I mean it has sex and betrayal and intrigue…it's a regular soap opera. It's almost like it could have happened on _Dynasty_, but with better clothes. I mean, what were they thinking –"

"Lorelai," Luke growled, "your original plan to skip that part was quite inspired, I really think you should follow up on it."

"Oh, sorry," Lorelai blinked at him, trying her best to look innocent and failing miserably. "Where was I? Oh yes, Chris. Long story short, we've had a weird relationship ever since our parents tried to force us into the whole shotgun wedding thing. We drifted apart, due in part to the fact that I _had_ to grow up and he was free to go gallivanting…wherever. His constant absence in Rory's life didn't help any, either. Anyway, for awhile I really thought that he'd get it together and come back, you know, ready to be a family." Lorelai got up and began to pace, apparently needing to gather her thoughts.

Luke turned to follow her with his eyes. She stopped pacing in front of the window and stood, silent and still, for a moment, gazing out across her front lawn. He wanted to say something to urge her on, but thought better of it. She would continue with her story when she was ready. The diner was closed, he had nothing but time.

She took a deep breath and started talking again. "After awhile, it became apparent that it wasn't going to happen. It really hurt Rory, and it was killing me. It took time, but I gradually realised that there was no chance in hell that he would be my whole package."

"Whole package?" Luke repeated.

"Yeah, you know like friend, lover, husband, father to my child. That kind of whole package. We got to a point where he was only the last one; I couldn't even call him my friend anymore. Friends are there for you, they support you and know what's going on in your life. He wasn't and didn't. So I moved on. I stopped seeing him as my soul-mate and began to secretly refer to him as Rory's sperm donor…not real mature, but it helped."

"I can imagine it would, in a…clinical sort of way," Luke ventured.

Lorelai turned from the window and walked back to couch, sitting closer to Luke than he would have liked. "Don't mock. Anyway, time passed and we saw him on holidays, would get the odd phone call and everything was fine. The status quo prevailed. Then, last year he came to Stars Hollow, for one of the first times ever and tried to convince me he had changed." She closed her eyes. "I almost fell for it. In fact, he proposed to me that time." At that, she opened her eyes and looked over at Luke. "It was then that I realised that, even though I still loved him because of everything was had shared, I wasn't _in love_ with him. It sounds terribly clichéd, but it's true."

"It's not an easy thing to realise," she continued, "and there were a couple of times when I forgot, like when I first found out about Sherry."

"Who's Sherry?" Luke asked.

"His girlfriend. The woman who was with him earlier. You must have seen her, she was in the diner before…the weirdness…occurred."

"Yeah, I saw her," Luke said, remembering the attractive woman he had noticed talking with Rory.

"I had this ridiculous, knee-jerk jealous reaction when I first found out about her a couple of months ago…and then when he showed up here with her yesterday…I was upset, I guess," she admitted, and shrugged.

"It's only normal, I would imagine." Luke tried to sound encouraging but he was getting restless. He was sick of hearing about Christopher. He wanted to move on to discuss more important things, like what had transpired between him and Lorelai _because_ of Christopher.

"Relax, Luke. I'm getting to it." _Huh? How did she know?_ "Anyway, I had a talk with Rory this morning and she said something that made me realise that one of the reasons I was uncomfortable with the whole Sherry situation was that she was potentially taking the chance of a real family away from Rory. I want my baby to have the family-variety whole-package too…but I found out that she had given up on it also."

"Whoa, back up Lorelai. You said _one_ of the reason you were uncomfortable with Christopher's girlfriend. What were the others?" Luke successfully kept the worry out of his voice.

Lorelai took a deep breath. "She seems to really want to get to know Rory, which shouldn't bother me, but it does. I mean, I should be glad that Chris has a girlfriend who's genuinely interested in his kid. It's great! It's just that it's just been Rory and me for so long that…well, it's going to sound stupid…but I don't want to share her."

"It doesn't sound stupid. Rory's your daughter _and_ best friend, it's normal that you'd want to protect that."

Lorelai laughed softly at that. "You're sweet, Luke, but it's plain and simple jealousy. I don't want my daughter to have a stepmother she can like, who takes her shopping and wants to know all about Chilton and Lane and Stars Hollow and Dean. I don't want her to have someone who can replace me."

Luke swore softly under his breath. He was shocked to discover that even a beautiful, successful and confident woman could be so insecure. He thought such feelings were the exclusive property of the likes of him. He had tons of reasons to be insecure, but _Lorelai_? He couldn't image Rory ever 'leaving' Lorelai for someone else. It was impossible.

"Lorelai..." he started, unsure of what he could say to make her feel better. "Listen to me: you have nothing to worry about. Rory adores you; you two would be lost without each other. She hardly ever sees her dad, I doubt she's even going to be seeing that much of this Cherry"

"Sherry," she corrected him. "Not the fruit, the drink. Logically, I know you're right. It's just that they live in Boston, and Rory's going to Harvard in a couple of years…they'll be close to her and I won't." She sat up straight and slapped her palms against her thighs. "And we went off on a tangent and it's just depressing me, so I'll get on with the good stuff."

"The good stuff?" he asked suspiciously. Trust Lorelai to go from sad and introspective to upbeat and perky in 0.8 seconds. No wonder she confused the hell out of him most of the time.

"I decided to be honest with Chris," she continued as if he hadn't spoken, "and tell him that I was out of the game we'd been playing. I honestly meant no harm by it, and he just went nuts. Well, you were there, you heard what he said."

"What? No, I was busy, you know…"

"Luke, everyone within a two-mile radius of the diner heard him. It embarrassed me. _He_ embarrassed me. He made it sound like I'm some pathetic loser who's been waiting for her prince to get a clue and come back to her, which is so far from the truth it's in a whole different zip code. Hell, in a different county!"

Luke cleared his throat before speaking. He got that words were everything to Lorelai, but he really wanted to get to the point. "Well, then please explain how –"

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Geez, it's like you're determined to ruin my buildup! Anyway, you'd almost have to be a woman to understand this next part…see, I don't want Chris at all. It's been made abundantly clear that 'that ship has sailed'. But when I saw him heading back towards the diner…I couldn't just let it go. I wanted to hurt him, make him realise that he was wrong about me, so I, uh –"

"What, Lorelai?" Luke couldn't contain himself anymore. She was driving him crazy with her stories and hesitations and by just sitting there looking amazing. All he wanted to know was why. Why him? Was she really saying that she had upset the delicate balance of their friendship to get back at Christopher? Was she really that shallow? He didn't think so, but if she didn't hurry up and make with the explanations, he was going to draw his own conclusions.

Lorelai jumped up from the couch and turned to face him, blue eyes blazing and hands propped on her hips. "I used you! Is that what you want to hear? I used you to get back at Christopher, which backfired _so_ badly. How was I to know that he would be a total jerk and proposition me in front of everyone? How was I to know that he would magically forget he had a girlfriend and that I had what he thought was a boyfriend standing not two feet away? How was I to know that he would cause yet another scene to further embarrass me in front of everyone? How was I to know –".

She seemed to run out of steam then. Her shoulders slumped forward, and she covered her face with her hands briefly before removing them to take a deep breath.

Luke leaned forward. "How were you to know what?" He tried to keep the hopeful tone out of his voice. Success was limited.

She sat down on the coffee table, unable to meet his eyes. She was silent for a moment. And then she whispered, "That I would enjoy kissing you so much…"

TBC…

A/N I've been told I'm cruel with my cliff-hangers. Um, sorry?

A/N For those who are interested, the apple thing is true, at least according to my dentist. Since I'm definitely a 'an apple a day keeps the doctor away' kind of girl (I credit my anal-retentive, rule-observing Virgo nature for my healthy habits), he told my I could still indulge in my apples, as long as I rinsed my mouth out with water or brushed my teeth after. Go figure, a health concept we were raised with is also bad for us! My opinion? Take it with a grain of salt, and keep enjoyin' them apples!


	6. Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover

Disclaimer: Hey, better late than never! Not mine.

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Previously…

**Lorelai jumped up from the couch and turned to face him, blue eyes blazing and hands propped on her hips. "I used you! Is that what you want to hear? I used you to get back at Christopher, which backfired _so_ badly. How was I to know that he would be a total jerk and proposition me in front of everyone? How was I to know that he would magically forget he had a girlfriend and that I had what he thought was a boyfriend standing not two feet away? How was I to know that he would cause yet another scene to further embarrass me in front of everyone? How was I to know –".**

**She seemed to run out of steam then. Her shoulders slumped forward, and she covered her face with her hands briefly before removing them to take a deep breath.**

**Luke leaned forward. "How were you to know what?" He tried to keep the hopeful tone out of his voice. Success was limited.**

**She sat down on the coffee table, unable to meet his eyes. She was silent for a moment. And then she whispered, "That I would enjoy kissing you so much…"**

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Chapter 6 – Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover

Lorelai trailed off after her startling admission. Well, startling to her. She hadn't thought she had it in her to say it out loud. She kept her gaze trained on Luke's knees, unable and unwilling to meet his eyes.

The silence stretched on slowly into unbearably uncomfortable territory, until Lorelai had to be true to herself and break it. "Would you like something to drink?" she asked tentatively.

"Uh…no thanks," Luke answered, sounding distracted. "I, uh, don't know what to say."

He got up from the couch, jostling her knees as he did. Lorelai sensed him walking away and figured it was safe to lift her eyes. Her gaze followed him around the room as he paced from one end to the other, obviously deep in thought. He was making her nervous. She opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again when she realised that she wasn't going anywhere with her thoughts.

Finally, Luke stopped pacing and turned to face her. "Are you sure?"

"Am I sure of what? On whether I'm offering you something to drink? Pretty much. Unless you're about to do something that will make me rescind my offer…"

Luke sighed, exasperated with her antics. "Could you be serious for a minute, here? This is big."

"I know." She rose from the couch and slowly walked over to stand in front of him. _Boy, do I know_, she thought as she looked up to his face, feeling as though she was seeing him, really seeing him for the first time. She noticed the blue of his eyes and the lines around them, the set of his nose, the familiar stubble and the fullness of his lips. _Would it be so terrible to want more than our friendship? To cross that line from friends to lovers?_ Her train of thought frightened her, yet somehow comforted at the same time. She was considering stepping into the unknown, but with someone she trusted implicitly. It felt…good. Provided he felt the same way…

She noticed then that he too was letting his eyes roam over her face, taking in her features. His expression struggled to remain impassive, but the battle was lost when his gaze landed on her mouth. She could almost taste the yearning she saw in his eyes, and knew it reflected what could be seen in her own.

"Lorelai," Luke began, "when we, uh, kissed at the diner…it shouldn't have happened. I know it was under weird circumstances, that you normally wouldn't have done it, but…" he trailed off, unable to meet her eyes.

"But what?" Lorelai hated the sound of her voice at that moment; part insecure, part impatient and part hopeful. _When did I become _that_ girl_?

"…it's something I've thought about from time to time over the years. Kissing you, I mean. It never went further than that because, well, uh…"

"What, Luke? You know you can tell me," she prodded.

"Jeez, Lorelai, this isn't easy for me!" Luke exploded. "I've wanted this for years, ok? Years! But I wanted it to be because of me, not because of some psycho need to make someone else jealous."

"Luke, it wasn't like that!" Lorelai exclaimed, but figured she should backtrack when she saw the flash on anger cross his face. "Uh, that expression always works on TV…well, it wasn't entirely like that…it was meant as a casual _I'll see you later at home, oh boyfriend of mine_ kind of kiss. I didn't mean for it to become a _oh my God, I can't believe I'm fantasising about ripping this man's clothes off in the middle of a diner_ kind of kiss. It just happened…and I can't honestly say that I'm sorry or that I wouldn't want to do it again, soon. Real soon. Like now. Now would be good."

Lorelai noticed she was babbling and rapidly came to the conclusion that she didn't care. Talking about the kiss and mentally reliving it while the object of her desire stood not a foot away was making her all hot and bothered, which was still a strange feeling to have with regards to Luke. Strange _good_, though.

She realised she had yet to received a response from Luke. She thought her words would motivate him to plant one on her, at the very least. With the way she was feeling, she figured she could have in upstairs in little more than 10 seconds, 20 seconds tops.

"Luke? Did I lose you there?" She waved her hand in front of his face. He surprised her by reaching up, quick as a cat, and grabbing it before she could move away.

"Why are you always in such a rush, Lorelai? I need time to process." He let go of her hand and turned away from her to stride towards the kitchen. "I think I'll have that drink now." And he left her alone in the living room, wondering whether she should wait or follow him.

Waiting would be smart, but following him was more fun. So she too left the room and headed for the kitchen. She spotted him standing in front of the open fridge door.

"Luke…"

He turned to face her, shutting the door after taking out a bottle of water. "Lorelai, you need to understand that if anything happens between us, I won't want it to be just a one-time thing. I'll want more. Before we do anything, I have to be sure that you aren't just messing with me. I need to know that you're serious."

_Whoa_, she thought. To think that Luke would actually want _more_ with her was flattering and scary and _great_. She watched him as he made his way towards her and stopped in front of her. The look in his eyes made her shiver. She felt the now-familiar heat stirring in her stomach, awakening her nerves.

"Well?" he asked.

_Two can play that game_, she thought. "Why are you always in such a rush, Luke? I need time to process," she teased, echoing his earlier words.

"Cute, Lorelai. Do me a favour and clue me in. What it is you want exactly?" Luke asked, exasperated.

Lorelai cocked her head to the right, considering him carefully before answering. "I think the words of Sophie B. Hawkins best describe what I'm trying to tell you."

Luke rolled his eyes. Trust Lorelai to utterly confuse him instead of giving him a straight answer.

Lorelai closed the gap between them and twined her arms around his neck, pressing her body against his. She stretched her neck so her lips grazed his ear when she spoke. "I'll spare you this time; I'm guessing 90s rocker chicks aren't your forte. But if you can figure it out…" She trailed of suggestively and gently bit his earlobe to drive her point home.

He groaned before wrapping his arms tightly around her waist and dipping his head to her neck. She dimly registered the sound of the plastic water bottle hitting the floor. He stood there for a moment, breathing her in, trying to get a grasp on what was happening.

They stood like that for what seemed like hours, but was probably only a minute or two. Lorelai was acutely aware of the feel of his body against hers. He was tall and solid and warm and _damn_ but he smelt good. The ever-present heat shifted then and spread through her like wildfire. She moved then, slowly and softly nuzzling his neck with her nose, inhaling him.

That little change in their stance drove him to action. Lorelai realised he was pushing her backwards, but didn't truly register what was happening until her back hit the wall. His lips came crashing down on hers with a sense of urgency that she would never have expected from him. She revelled in it, teasing his lips open so she could slip her tongue between them to deepen the kiss.

When she heard his responding moan, she untangled her arms from around his neck and slid them around his waist, pulling him in even closer, wanting, needing, to feel herself being crushed between the wall and him. _A rock and a hard place_, she thought. _Dirty!_

She sank into the kiss. Their relatively innocent one at the diner paled in comparison to the heated embrace they were now sharing. Caught in the moment, she snaked her hands under his shirt and untucked his T-shirt to slide her hands up the bare skin of his back. It was soft to the touch and warm under her fingers. She moaned into his mouth, which urged him to part her legs with his thigh and press into her, sending arrows of lust shooting through her body.

"Upstairs," she whispered against his lips.

Luke released her lips and leaned his forehead against hers. "What about Rory?" he panted.

"Not here," she kissed his cheek. "Won't be back for hours," she planted a feather-light kiss on his lips. "Long, long movie," she gently licked the sensitive spot beneath his ear and lightly blew on it. "Place to ourselves," she whispered into his ear.

"But…" he protested weakly.

"Luke," she cajoled. "I'm about to go against the fourth item on Dr. Laura's '10 Stupid Things Women Do to Mess Up Their Lives' list. I'd love to do it with you…" she trailed off, letting him interpret that last bit as however he saw fit. She wiggled against him suggestively to help convince him. "Take me upstairs."

Wordlessly, he stepped back and held out his hand. She took it, and allowed him to lead her to the stairs.

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Afterwards, as they lay spent over the covers of her bed, Luke looked over at Lorelai and could not believe what had just transpired. After years of yearning, it had finally happened, and it was better than any of his fantasies. It was _real_. She was real. His gaze landed on her neck, where he had used his lips and teeth and tongue to brand her as his and he smiled.

"What are you grinning at?" Lorelai's voice, heavy with sleep yet teasing just the same, drifted over him and lit another fire within. He never thought he'd hear her like this.

"I'm just bummed that I can't figure out the reference," Luke admitted as he traced lines over the curves of her back.

She turned around to face him, and he was once again caught by the teasing look in her eyes. "I would've thought you'd have forgotten all about it…I'm impressed…"

"Well, enlighten me."

"I was referring to a song title," Lorelai admitted. "I've been waiting for, like, almost a decade to use it on the right guy. This was my chance…"

"Uh-huh. Well, what is it?"

Luke watched, entranced, as Lorelai blushed and rose up to support her head on her elbow. She demurely dropped her eyes and spoke in a whisper, so soft he couldn't make out what she said.

He lifted her chin, forcing her to look him in the eye. "What was that?"

"Damn, I Wish I Was You Lover"

Luke smiled.

Fin 

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A/N – Well, this is the end of the line for my first-ever real multi-chapter fic. It was fun, and it gave me some good ideas and practice for the future. Thanks again to all those who took the time to read and review. It really means a lot, and it is always greatly appreciated.

A/N : I tried, I really did, to smuttify this last chapter. Alas, I just couldn't do it. Maybe one day I'll manage to take it beyond PG-13 (or T, apparently). Here's hoping!


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